Democracy and arm twisting

When Greek PM George Papandrou called for a referendum on the EU bail out plan for his country , he sent shock waves throughout the Euro zone, especially in France and Germany, which thought they had sealed a workable plan to ensure that Greece cannot default on its debts and ruin the euro zone in the process. But then, in my view, the Greek PM has done the right thing in that he has returned democracy to its roots and at the right time and occasion, albeit in the midst of a financial crisis, because after all said and done Greece is the home and origin of the political ideology called democracy.

Ancient Athenian history and democracy remind one of political philosophers like Socrates, Plato and Aristotle. But the recent riots on the streets of Athens over austerity measures, arising from Greece’s efforts to pay its debts , makes it difficult to believe that this city was the home of great political philosophers whose thinking created democracy as the government of the people by the people and for the people. But then, the Greek PM did not act in a vacuum and we shall talk about that later.

At UNESCO, the UN education and culture institution, the general house voted to admit Palestine as its newest member over the objection of Israel and the US and the two nations moved in a hostile manner towards the UNESCO admission. In Syria where the government is suppressing the people and asking for political reforms and more accountability and transparency in governance, the Assad government warned foreign nations especially those of Europe from giving aid to the insurgents ranged against its dictatorship.

In S. Africa the leader of the Communist Party and a Minister warned that party leaders are using funds garnered from bribes and corrupt deals from their official position to buy the leadership of the ruling party–the ANC - at its next conference and he is poised to expose and prevent such political buyout by all means.

I intend to say some home and bitter truths on the events I have highlighted today for the sake of democracy which is the in thing in terms of government and the ascendant political ideology in the world today. From Athens to New York, Damascus to Johannesburg and eventually to Abuja, democracy faces its sternest test in recent times from not only its beneficiaries and adherents but also from those who have no iota of respect for its basic principles and rights but use it as the front for their governments and purposes all the same.

Let us start with Greece where I stated earlier that the Greek PM did not act in a vacuum in calling for a referendum. I recall that after the announcement about the bailout agreement by Euro zone members on Greece, the French President Nikolas Sarkozy shocked many when he announced at a press conference that Greece should not have been admitted into the EU as its budget and financial figures as at admission were cooked or at best false. I wondered then at the objective of the French President in making such an extravagant statement after spending a long time with other European nations to work out a bail out deal on Greece.

Sarkozy may be trying to put a financially prostrate Greece in its place but he shot in the leg not only himself and French banks who stand to lose millions in case of a Greece default, but he also shot down Greek pride and the price of that national ego is Greek resort to a referendum on a deal that the Euro zone has already regarded as a done deal. Which is back to square one, as the Greek public and electorate are not expected to ratify a deal that they are already prepared to die on the streets of Athens for.

So what is French or Gallic gain or pride in shooting down Greek pride and arousing the Greek leaders to remember their democracy pedigree and ancestry at great cost to European economic and political stability? That is an answer that only Mr ‘Wiseman‘ Sarkozy can provide.

The latest news filtering in that the Greek PM has been asked to resign by some key members of his cabinet and that he has offered to negotiate with the opposition will not deter our discussion of the matter. This is because the lessons from the Greek financial imbroglio which has given rise to a democracy debacle are many and are there to be learnt by all democracies alike.

The first stems from the fact that the Greek government has assured its Eurozone members that the referendum is not to determine whether Greece will remain a member of the EU but to make the electorate determine whether the Greek government should accept the bailout package.

Which puts the electorate in the driving seat and absolves the government of responsibility for any further austerity riots. It also firmly deflects any EU suspicion away from any accusation that Greece is smarting from the Sarkozy insult and the government is trying to upset the EU financial roller coaster. In addition the government is preempting the military which seized political power for some seven years till 1974, from plotting a coup that could have popular support given the present austerity measures, by removing the heads of the army, navy and air force and replacing them with generals they can trust.

Which shows that any reasonable democracy once it knows that its policies are creating economic hardship that foment hostility and violence must insure itself against insurgency and plan for its containment through its military or security institutions or be prepared for institutional disloyalty culminating in insurrection which is a coup.

So in effect the Papandreou government is not cutting its nose to spite its face. While taking on Europe to salvage whatever is left of Greek pride it is not prepared to commit political suicide by playing into the hands of an overzealous and disloyal army waiting to exploit the public unrest in Greece over the debt crisis to seize power from the democratically elected government of the day.

Similarly the reactions of the US and Israel to the admission of Palestine is a lesson in authoritarianism and dictatorship yet both nations are leading lights of democracy in their domestic politics. The US has cut funds to UNESCO by suspending its annual subscription which is substantial and the aim is to cripple UNESCO’s globally beneficial activities because that organization used the democratic process in admitting Palestine, which the US is against for no justifiable reason other than that it does not want to annoy its ally Israel.

Worse still Israel has asked the Palestinians to focus on the peace process but because of the UNESCO admission it has seized revenue it collected on behalf of the Palestinian Authority and had accelerated the building on occupied territories-which is a source of anger and anguish for Palestinians and Arabs generally and is really the source of the militant terrorism rampant in the Middle East and beyond nowadays.

When leading democratic states punish global institutions that extol and practice democracy they tarnish the reputation of a welfare and justice oriented ideology and make a mockery of its principles and processes. They provide unwittingly ready weapons for charlatans and false prophets of democracy who pervert its principles on the altar of expediency on the excuse that democracy is ‘work in progress’ and cannot be achieved even in a lifetime and that is a real tragedy for democratic institutions and governments globally.

Nevertheless it was nice to hear towards the end of this week that the Blood thirsty Assad regime has agreed to a road map for political reforms in Syria at a meeting in Cairo Egypt attended by his representatives. Which means that he will forgo his threat to deal with European nations for now. But then he is acquiescing after the death of over 3000 protesters since the revolt against his regime started. What is to happen to the families of the lost ones?

Assad should be negotiating his exit like his sit tight colleague and blood brother in Yemen. Some readers have berated me for not commenting on Yemen and Bharain but this is due to lack of time and space and is not to be taken as a sign of approval of events in those places similar to those in Syria and N. Africa. To me there can be no meaningful reform in Syria till Assad is brought to book for the violence he unleashed on his people in the name of political reforms and to silence their legitimate right to choose their leaders as they have seen others do in the Middle East quite successfully , albeit bloodily in recent times.

Lastly we end with the hydra monster corruption which from time immemorial has been the bane of democracy and justice . Indeed no social malaise twists the arms of democracy more than corruption. That was what the Communist party leader was blowing the whistle on in S. Africa over the forthcoming party convention of the ruling ANC.

But the Communist Party in that nation is part of the ‘trinity of power’ in S Africa which includes the ruling party the ANC and COSATU the umbrella organization of the trade unions in S Africa .The three were instrumental in cutting short the full term of former S African President Thabo Mbeki because he dared to prosecute his Vice President Jacob Zuma for corruption. The ANC went on to elect the corruption-accused Jacob Zuma as President of ANC at the party conference at which the accused became bona fide party leader and the incumbent president was asked to resign subsequently before the end of his term and Zuma became ANC Presidential candidate and the rest is history . The Communist Party leader Mr Blade Nzimande was a beneficiary as a Minister of this defeat of democracy and the accountability process that should fight corruption . So crying wolf when the horses have bolted from the stable is the best example of a dog barking at the moon . It is hypocritical certainly unbecoming and does not serve the purpose of good governance and democracy .